Smart home News

In Illinois, the company Itron will connect and manage 140,000 municipal smart streetlights. The open, standards-based network connecting the streetlights also powers a variety of smart grid applications.

New research from TraQline finds that the majority of U.S. consumers are very comfortable with the concept of the smart home and the types of technologies associated with the interconnected living space.

Waterloo -
Turning a conventional home into a ‘smart home’ can be become easier, and a less expensive, due to new technology developed by Canada’s University of Waterloo. This is in the form of battery-free Wi-Fi sensors.

The Internet of Things has taken a foothold in many homes. According to some technologists, the next stage for the smart home is the Internet of Sound, based on sensors detecting alterations with vibrations, sound and electrical field.

According to Trend Micro, soon, smart technologies will be universal. This is, however, just the starter in terms of the types of technologies and potentially life-changing innovations that smart cities promise. These trends are captured in a new report.

Imagine a world where printed smart objects are part of our everyday lives? This type of technological innovation is getting closer, according to Dr. Paul Smith of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. He discusses how with Digital Journal.

Cybersecurity expert Alex Vaystikh recently bought a new dishwasher before realizing that it connects to his Wi-fi to download updates. In an exclusive interview with Digital Journal, Vaystikh expands on smart home risks.

New technologies have the potential to make a substantial impact upon the home of the future. The smart home concept can one day be extended to an entire town, according to a new state-of-the-industry report.

The smart home will soon be more than voice assistants, embracing several interaction methods relating to ambient computing (such as voice, touch, and motion control) directly into the walls of the home.

Vancouver -
Two of Canada’s three largest cities are among the finalists for Infrastructure Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge - Vancouver, Montreal and Waterloo. Up for grabs is a first prize of $50 million.

There is plenty that is banded about in relation to smart homes, but is this concept limited to an array of voice activated gadgets or does the smart home of the future promise something more? A leading expert in smart technology explains more.

Toronto -
To fully develop the smart city, investment and innovation in new technology is key. Here many startups are supplying the lead and coming up with new and imaginative solutions to create the smart city fabric.

The entire web of Nest smart home monitoring devices went offline or behaved badly late Wednesday night and early into Thursday morning. While the issue has since been resolved, it definitely shows we should always be prepared when malfunctions happen.

Amazon has acquired Ring, the popular digital doorbell maker, for a figure believed to be in excess of $1 billion. Amazon is expanding into smart home products as it seeks to find ways to increase adoption of consumer AI and grow its hardware business.

Spotify is preparing its own range of physical hardware products, according to company job postings discovered online. Spotify is intending to create "category defining" devices built to rival smart speakers including the Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Microsoft has announced several new integrations for its Cortana digital assistant. The expanded line-up of smart home products is intended to help Cortana catch up with rivals including Alexa and Google Assistant, now widely seen to lead the market.

Amazon acquired security camera company Blink in a deal worth $90 million, according to a report today. The acquisition was completed late last year and is intended to strengthen the hardware capabilities of Amazon products such as the Echo and Cloud Cam.

Amazon has rolled out an update for a security flaw in its Key smart lock which the company had claimed wasn't an issue. Amazon Key is a system which lets delivery drivers place parcels inside your home. The attack could let anyone through the door.

Popular smart TVs are vulnerable to simple hacks that can be used to obtain personal information or remotely control the device. The warning comes from Consumer Reports which found "unsophisticated" techniques can be used to extract "very detailed" data.

Alphabet has announced it is merging Google and Nest together, creating a unified hardware team better equipped to compete with rivals including Amazon and Apple. Google acquired Nest in 2014 but the company was spun off as an Alphabet subsidiary.

Apple has announced it will start shipping its delayed HomePod smart speaker early next month. The company said the device is the product of "years" of innovation, culminating in a "magical" digital assistance experience. Preorders will open on Friday.

Google's attended CES with its biggest showing in years, arriving with an aggressive round of promotional material for Google Assistant. It comes after Amazon's Alexa was widely seen to have "won" last year's CES with more integrations than Google.

Digital assistants have been one of the most prominent technologies at this year's CES, with Alexa and Google Assistant appearing in new devices. Microsoft announced today it's still interested in assistance too, promising several new Cortana devices.

LG's CES press conference was derailed by its Cloi robot which ignored verbal commands. Cloi is supposed to act as a hub for LG's new range of smart home devices. The incident has resurfaced concerns that IoT development may be progressing too quickly.